Quick Start Guide: Install CharityGlow & Launch Your First Donation Form

Before you begin

• A working WordPress 5.8+ install (self-hosted, not WordPress.com free tier).
• An admin account.
• A Stripe account or PayPal Business account (you can create them during the wizard).
• An SSL / HTTPS active on your domain — required for any payment gateway.

Step 1 — Install CharityGlow

1. Inside WP Admin → Plugins → Add New, type "CharityGlow Donation" into search.
2. Install & Activate. You will be redirected to the Setup Wizard automatically.

Step 2 — Complete the Setup Wizard

1. Fill in your charity/organization legal name, country and currency.
2. Upload your logo — it appears on email receipts & donor communications.
3. Connect your Stripe account: copy Publishable key + Secret key from Stripe dashboard → Developers → API keys, and paste into CharityGlow Stripe settings.
4. Optionally enable PayPal: enter your PayPal Business email and configure IPN + PDT identity token.
5. Select which pages the wizard should create automatically (/donate, /donation-received, /donor-dashboard).
6. Finish and run the built-in post-install test checklist.

Step 3 — Create your first donation campaign

No more hunting for 7 different plugins and patching them together. Everything you need lives under one roof. Import your existing donor history from GiveWP, WP Charitable, PayPal Donations or any CSV export in minutes. If you ever get stuck, our real human support team is one click away inside your WordPress dashboard. Every step of the donor journey is tested and polished: checkout, thank-you emails, receipts, account creation, annual statements and tax season exports. Upgrade only when you are ready: the free plugin powers thousands of active nonprofits right now.

Step 4 — Publish the shortcode on a /donate page

Every step of the donor journey is tested and polished: checkout, thank-you emails, receipts, account creation, annual statements and tax season exports. CharityGlow is WordPress Multisite compatible, GDPR ready, translation ready and RTL friendly. If you ever get stuck, our real human support team is one click away inside your WordPress dashboard. Accept one-time and recurring donations, print tax-compliant PDF receipts, import demo content in 1-click and launch in a weekend.

Step 5 — Run 1 real test donation of $1

Running a nonprofit is hard enough without fighting your WordPress plugins every single day. We built CharityGlow after years of working with small churches, animal rescues, food banks and youth NGOs who were all being held back by overpriced legacy fundraising software. Upgrade only when you are ready: the free plugin powers thousands of active nonprofits right now. CharityGlow is WordPress Multisite compatible, GDPR ready, translation ready and RTL friendly.

Next steps after launch

CharityGlow is WordPress Multisite compatible, GDPR ready, translation ready and RTL friendly. Running a nonprofit is hard enough without fighting your WordPress plugins every single day. You own 100% of your donor data. Unlike hosted SaaS tools, nothing leaves your server until you want it to. We built CharityGlow after years of working with small churches, animal rescues, food banks and youth NGOs who were all being held back by overpriced legacy fundraising software.